The present invention is in the technical field of autonomous operation of a motor vehicle. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). More particularly, the present invention is in the field of automatic interpretation of traffic signals and flow.
Currently on the market there are self-driving vehicles. Currently on the market there are also ADAS devices that serve to record traffic events. Additionally, there are also ADAS devices capable of detecting lane departure, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,983,725; U.S. Pat. No. 8,849,508; U.S. Pat. No. 8,788,136; U.S. Pat. No. 8,775,063; U.S. Pat. No. 8,392,115; U.S. Pat. No. 8,798,867; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,798,907. There are other ADAS inventions that serve to alert the operator of a motor vehicle of an imminent collision, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,031,774; U.S. Pat. No. 8,924,140; U.S. Pat. No. 8,862,380; U.S. Pat. No. 8,841,994; U.S. Pat. No. 8,744,661; U.S. Pat. No. 8,493,196; U.S. Pat. No. 8,452,055; U.S. Pat. No. 8,423,280; U.S. Pat. No. 8,412,448; U.S. Pat. No. 8,380,426; U.S. Pat. App. 2014/0278048; U.S. Pat. App. 2014/0037138; U.S. Pat. App. 2013/0158852; and U.S. Pat. App. 2013/0090806. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 8,948,449 discloses an invention for clear path detection without regard to traffic signals. U.S. Pat. No. 8,983,706 discloses prior art for guiding maneuvers of a motor vehicle operator based on the environment surrounding a vehicle, but that invention depends on the assumption that the motor vehicle is being actively driven in traffic. U.S. Pat. No. 8,798,867 discloses an invention for pedestrian protection aiding a driver in detecting and avoiding pedestrians in traffic. U.S. Pat. No. 8,798,907 and corresponding U.S. Pat. App. 2013/0030687 disclose an invention to detect the relative position of a preceding vehicles but claims to do so dependent on a system of inter-vehicular communication. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 8,447,437 discloses an ADAS system for automatic driving and parking requiring an array of camera sensors, depends on an image recognition library, and has dependent claims for driver notification via computer or mobile phone specifically for the purpose of controlling a motor vehicle in motion.